BREVITY: Furniture

This trip had been coming for a long time. All the excuses...we don't have time, we don't have space, our car is not big enough....had run out. Since moving into our new house, Rebecca was adamant about finally getting a real office. We now had the space, so she was going to make the time and reserve the work truck for hauling back the goods. I can't really argue with her. Her desks over our marriage have consisted of an old window on four Bed, Bath, and Beyond mini shelf things, a door on same shelf things, and finally my old desk. Having a good work environment is important and since she is full time at home, she needs to be super productive.

Having been several times before and being aware of the jokes about what this store can do to a marriage, we did not enter into the trip lightly. In my opinion there are only two ways to shop at/experience Ikea. You can either say we are going to run through to just see what is about and not buy anything (which is very difficult); or you can set aside a whole day and commit to getting through it section by section (also difficult). If you try to put a time limit on yourself and still shop the whole store, you'll never make it. One person will end up alone in the cafeteria knocking back some meatballs and the other may attempt to choke themselves with the complimentary tape measures. Limited time with seemingly endless decisions just don't go together.

We headed over to Atlanta on Labor Day in the work truck, enjoying the barely double digit MPGs. We got to the store about 11am eastern time. The store was a popular holiday destination. Without really any time limit other than driving back to Birmingham, we began to leisurely stroll through the store. Before we knew it a couple hours had passed. We realized we needed to solely focus on office furniture if we were going to get anything accomplished. So we went to the office section and selected a layout. A feature about Ikea furniture is that is interchangeable, but can also add to decision making. So rather than just get a regular desk, you can get just the desktop and use other furniture as the legs. So we decided on his and her desks using a combination of drawer case things and bookshelves as the legs. We also got some accessories to go on the walls. The only other major piece of furniture we got was a shoe holder to go by the front door. Four hours later we were finally set on what we wanted and made our way to the warehouse to pick it up. We get to the desktop section and they are out of the left hand side of our desk. Rebecca being physically exhausted and now somewhat defeated just sat on the ground. I checked with an employee and it would be two weeks before they had anymore. Not wanting another color and not having time to come back anytime soon, we just got two right handed desks and decided to flip one over. The bottom side has a slightly different finish and lots of holes for leg and brackets, but it would work for the time being.

Now 5 hours later, we had the truck loaded and empty stomachs. Knowing this is a common occurrence, the store has a cafeteria when you come in and a snack shop when you leave. This particular weekend they had a deal where if you spent $100 on furniture, you could get your meal in the cafeteria for free. I was in the mood for some Swedish meatballs and so it was an obvious choice for me. I called Brad, who now lives in Atlanta, to see if they wanted to meet us at the store. We had planned on going out to eat, but the price was right here. Brad and Lauren met us there and we all got our food for free. If ever in the situation again, there is no limit on how much food you get for free, so stock up on the prepackaged stuff. It was good to catch up as we reflected on the long day.

It was a successful trip. I'm very happy with how the office set-up has turned out. It is a more enjoyable place to work now, and we have more space in which to work. Here are some photos of the day and finished project.